In recent years, a function is discovered, in which by means of positive ions and negative ions generated into the air, germs floating in the air are killed and viruses are inactivated; and products such as an air cleaner and the like to which this technology is applied are attracting attention from people.
Besides, as an ion generating portion that generates the positive ions and the negative ions, a plasma discharge type is known, in which electric discharge is performed between a needle-shape positive discharge electrode and a plate-shape induction electrode, and between a needle-shape negative discharge electrode and the plate-shape induction electrode; thus, the positive ions are generated from the positive discharge electrode and the negative ions are generated from the negative discharge electrode. The plasma discharge is performed at the needle-shape positive and negative discharge electrodes, so that the air and vapors are ionized and the positive ions and negative ions are generated. As the positive ion, H+(H2O)m (m is a natural number), in which a plurality of water molecules are bonding to a circumference of a hydrogen ion, is chiefly generated; and as the negative ion, O2−(H2O)n (n is a natural number), in which a plurality of water molecules are bonding to a circumference of an oxygen ion, is chiefly generated.
If the above H+(H2O)m and O2−(H2O)n bond to a surface of a floating germ, chemical reaction occurs, thereby generating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or hydroxyl radical (.OH) that are active species. Because of this, the floating germ is destroyed by the decomposition action of the active species. It is said that in this way, it is possible to kill or inactivate the germ-relatives in the air such as bacteria, viruses and the like to remove them.
As described above, by supplying H+(H2O)m and O2−(H2O)n into a room at the same time, it becomes possible to kill and inactivate the germ-relatives contained in the air of the room. However, in a case where impurities or dust collects on the needle-shape discharge electrode that is the ion generating portion, the ion generation effect deteriorates, so that it becomes impossible to supply a desired amount of generated ions.
To kill and inactivate the germ-relatives in the air to remove them, because an amount of the positive ions and of the negative ions are needed, more than a predetermined amount of the positive ions and of the negative ions per unit volume becomes necessary, so that as for an ion generating portion whose ion generation effect deteriorates, it is preferable to eliminate the cause of the deterioration or repair the ion generating portion.
Because of this, to facilitate demounting, cleaning and maintenance of an air processing unit and an ion diffusing apparatus, an air processing unit and an ion diffusing apparatus which are removably mounted on a base portion for mounting the air processing unit and the ion diffusing apparatus are already proposed (e.g., see patent document 1).